Dallas allows backyard chickens, and a group wants the same rule for Houston.

Being a good neighbor will make life easier when you hatch your plan to keep chickens in the backyard.

You barely have to scratch the surface these days to find someone who knows someone who extols the joy of pet chickens and fresh eggs.

Yet a Houston ordinance says chicken coops must be 100 feet away from any neighboring buildings. Because most lots are not that big, many chickens in the city are illegal, although it's an ordinance the city enforces on a complaint basis.

Hens for Houston, led by Claire Krebs, would like to see the city code changed. Her group still is in the research phase.

"I've always liked the idea of having chickens," says the Houston native and Rice University graduate. "I went to Peace Corps right after graduating. I was in Honduras and there are chickens everywhere."

Ready to settle in Houston, Krebs was not keen to break the law and risk having her chickens taken away. But she thought the time was right for the city to take another look at its fowl restrictions.

Many cities, including Dallas, allow backyard chickens, although roosters are banned, she says. That makes sense because roosters crow loudly at all hours of the day and night. Hens produce eggs without roosters.

Krebs notes that Houston's poorly written ordinance allows 30 roosters if you have a big enough lot.

"You have to think about your neighbors," Krebs says. "We are living in a city together. You wouldn't want your neighbor's dog barking all night. But hens hardly make noise at all."

Bellaire resident Loren Raun says her immediate neighbors know she has two Aracuna chickens, Martha Washington and Aunt Connie, in the backyard, and there have been no problems. In Bellaire, there are no ordinances against chickens, but residents can be cited for noise or cleanliness violations.

Raun, a Rice University faculty fellow, says neighbors who share the back fence where the coop is located have told her they enjoy hearing the low chatter of the hens. Generally, hens only squawk after they have laid an egg. Martha and Connie usually lay one egg each day.

Raun feeds them in the morning and lets the chickens forage freely in the big, shady yard during the day. No chicken feed is left out to attract other animals, and the coop is cleaned about once a week.

At dusk, the hens go to their coop and Raun shuts their doors.

"If not cared for properly, any pet can be a problem with neighbors," says Rob Ludlow of BackYardChickens.com and co-author of "Raising Chickens for Dummies" and "Building Chicken Coops for Dummies."

"Imagine someone having five dogs or five cats in their backyard and not providing enough space and/or not cleaning up after them. You'd have some problems," he says.

When he hears people complain about chickens, Ludlow likes to invite them to visit a properly sized coop and run with five to eight backyard hens. "They would find it difficult to notice more odor, noise and rodents than with any other backyard pet," Ludlow said.

The San Francisco resident has neighbors on all sides of his house, five hens in the backyard and no complaints.

"It also helps that during the spring when we have an abundance of eggs, we send them over to our neighbors," Ludlow said.